Inspired by Soren Kierkegaard's philosophical novel
"Either/Or," The Escape Artist is a dark and stylish story of longing, illusion,
and the search for unconditional love. Shot in a bruised night palette, a
dual narrative follows two escape artists, across a fateful week in a NYC
twilight world inhabited by colorful guttersnipes and street performers.

Gabriel Grey is a former celebrity illusionist and modern-day
Houdini. Plagued by depression and a deep existential doubt about his identity
as a performer, he has abandoned his fame and career and is crashing with
a charismatic street performer and fellow escape artist named Billy Bane in
a dilapidated squat in the East Village. Sleepless, drinking himself to the
brink, and driven by romantic compulsions he himself does not fully understand,
Gabriel tries to find / escape himself in dispassionate affairs with several
women (Dixon, a beautiful and trusting poet; Rachel, an acerbic dominatrix;
Doe, a tormented socialite; and Magalie, a fetching shop girl) who love him
devotedly. But his romantic intrigues quickly become a house of cards, and
he drifts ever closer to suicide in a slowburn dream of sexual oblivion.

Billy Bane, a straitjacket escape specialist, is a gentle
soul frightened by dangerous signs of schizophrenia. Living under the constant
threat of eviction from a calculating and eccentric landlord, and cut off
from welfare, he medicates himself with drugs he hustles on the street, and
experiences love only as a fantasist lost in old Garbo films. However, unlike
his doomed friend Gabriel, he yearns to reveal himself in the restorative
power of love. While performing escape stunts at street fairs and downtown
fetish clubs, he finds himself "stalked" by Chloe, a lonely 8th Ave. peepshow
girl and kindred spirit. As he cautiously unmasks himself to her, he discovers
refuge in her protective and unconditional love.

Principal Cast

JOSH HAMILTON (Billy Bane) has starred in several major
independent and studio films including ALIVE (w/ Ethan Hawke, Universal),
THE HOUSE OF YES (w/ Parker Posey, Miramax), ON-LINE, URBANIA, KICKING AND
SCREAMING, WITH HONORS, FREAKS TALK ABOUT SEX, WEST OF HERE, LANDFALL, ANOTHER
WOMAN, DRIVE SHE SAID, WOMEN AND WALLACE, and the NBC mini-series, THE 60'S.
Also an acclaimed stage actor, he recently starred on Broadway in the TONY
award winning play PROOF.

NINA HELLMAN (Chloe) recently played the
title role in THE MARY KAY LETOURNEAU STORY for Fox Network. Other film credits
include WET, HOT, AMERICAN SUMMER and TRICK.

MICHAEL LAURENCE (Gabriel Grey) has starred in the independent
films THE OPERATOR; FOLLOW ME OUTSIDE, and LOVE GOD. Other film credits include
THE MINISTER'S BLACK VEIL, PARTICLES OF TRUTH, and CLAIRE DOLAN. He has guest-starred
on THIRD WATCH, FX: THE SERIES, GHOST STORIES, and AS THE WORLD TURNS. Broadway,
Off-Broadway and Regional theater credits include the world premiere of Eric
Bogosian's HUMPTY DUMPTY, Sam Shepard's TOOTH OF CRIME, Bridget Carpenter's
THE FACULTY ROOM, Lanford Wilson's BOOK OF DAYS, John Guare's LYDIE BREEZE,
TAPE, INVENTING VAN GOGH, HANDS IN WARTIME, and POORFELLAS.

Over the last decade since graduating from NYU's Tisch School
of the Arts, he has garnered extensive NY theater credits as a director and
producer including: THE DROWNING PAGES, I AM A COFFIN, THE MASTER OF MONSTROSITIES
(LaMama, etc.), MY GREEN HADES (Bosakowski Theater/Primary Stages), ELEGIES
(Living Theater, Theater for a New City), CHOP OFF YOUR EAR (Orensanz Foundation),
QUICK BRIGHT THINGS (HERE), and EDWARD II (The Red Room). His deconstructed
version of HAMLET, HAMLET IN BED, is in development with WHATMANWHATCAR Theater
Co., of which he is a co-founder. He is currently attached as co-director
of the upcoming MAVERICK at The Culture Project. He wrote and directed two
stage versions of THE ESCAPE ARTIST. The first was produced in 1996 at Tribeca
Lab. The second (a multi-media piece which incorporated experimental video)
was work shopped at Primary Stages/Phil Bosakowski Theater in 1999.